Joined: 30 Jan 2013Posts: 1106Location: Chamber of the House of Lords, Palace of Westminister

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:02 am Post subject:

What threat pose death, hell, and chains to the devil?

Something I never liked about A Christmas Carol was that the final thing that pushed Ebeneezer Scrooge to reform was the tombstone. Fear of death and Hell. He had other motivations to be sure, but that was the one that caused him to resolve to change, that was the one that was introduced last, and that was the one that Dickens stressed.

I feel like Scrooge's change of character would have felt more genuine had it been connected with something selfless- like the compassion Scrooge developed for Tiny Tim rather than the negative motivation of fear of... death, hell, and chains.

Something I never liked about A Christmas Carol was that the final thing that pushed Ebeneezer Scrooge to reform was the tombstone. Fear of death and Hell. He had other motivations to be sure, but that was the one that caused him to resolve to change, that was the one that was introduced last, and that was the one that Dickens stressed.

I feel like Scrooge's change of character would have felt more genuine had it been connected with something selfless- like the compassion Scrooge developed for Tiny Tim rather than the negative motivation of fear of... death, hell, and chains.

Agreed, I really dislike anything when the thing that motivates change is the afterlife or becoming religious somehow. It doesn't seem terribly selfless, changing just so one doesn't get punished according to whatever religion they're referencing, instead of, y'know, realising what they were doing was wrong/selfish/harmful.